In the art of producing frozen confections, machines are now in use to form the confections without molds, in a continuously moving processing line. An extrusion nozzle forms the semi-frozen product as a bar which is sliced off to produce the individual novelties. The bars drop onto a transport conveyor comprising an endless series of support plates which are termed cold plates. The cold plates carry the semi-frozen bars through a freezing tunnel to freeze them solid. The frozen product bars move out of the tunnel on a reach of the transport conveyor which extends along a corresponding reach of a pickup conveyor that carries a plurality of product grippers for picking up the individual products from the cold plates. The product grippers manipulate the individual products through various optional accessory devices along the path of the pickup conveyor, such as a coating bath of liquid chocolate, and a dry coating apparatus for covering the product with ground nuts or similar edible material. One typical confection machine of this general type is disclosed in the Glass U.S. Pat. No. 3,648,625, issued on Mar. 14, 1972, and having the same assignee as the present invention.
One of the factors which limits the adaptability of prior art confection machines to handle different products is that the product grippers for transporting and manipulating the confections are restricted as to the type of product which may be handled. Prior art confection machines, therefore, usually require major accessory or changeover parts to change, for example, from ice cream cones to bar type confections. In contrast to this, the present invention provides product gripper or clamping mechanisms which require only minor and rapidly installed change parts to handle different confections. In this manner, the machine can be quickly altered, after a relatively simple cam change, to produce an entirely different product, such as changing from ice cream cone production to rectangular stick or stickless bar confections, or to ice cream sandwiches, or ice cream cups, or irregularly shaped novelty bars.